Design of a High-Gain Hybrid Slot Antenna Array Based on Bulk Silicon MEMS Process for W-Band Applications

Abstract

A W-band, high-gain, hybrid slot antenna array based on bulk silicon MEMS technology is proposed in this paper. The high-order-mode cavity is explored to excite the 2 × 2-slot basic unit, so as to reach the low-profile requirement of the bulk silicon MEMS process. To avoid the fragile structure of the large-scale antenna arrays based on the bulk silicon MEMS process, the ridge gap waveguide is employed to build the feed network for a large-scale array. A vertical transition between a rectangular waveguide and a ridge gap waveguide is designed to support the low-loss and low-cost assembling method between the radiation units and the feed network. An 8 × 8-slot hybrid antenna array is simulated and fabricated. The measured results show a relative bandwidth (VSWR < 2) of 8.1% with the first side-lobe level less than −11 dB over the frequency band of 91–97 GHz. A maximum gain of 26.1 dBi with the radiation efficiency of 65.2% is achieved. With high gain and high fabrication efficiency, the proposed hybrid slot antenna array would be valuable for W-band radar applications.